Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Simon Darkshade]

I had to look that up, and can confidently say…that series is well after my time.

[Belushi TD]

After my time as well, of course. Except that I have three rug rats, and all of them LOVED the series. I can do a pretty good Doofenschmirtz impression, as well!

Belushi TD

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1976
January 1: World heavyweight champion Apollo Creed and rank underdog Philadelphia club fighter Robert 'Rocky' Balboa, 'The Italian Stallion', (his new and hastily concocted appellation being the work of the fight's promotion team, after trying and rejecting his previous suggestions of 'The Italian Scallion' and 'The Black Vegetable') clash in a special title fight in Philadelphia. In what is labelled the 'Upset of the Century', the fight goes for the whole 15 rounds, before Balboa is sensationally able to knock down Creed and win by knock out, claiming the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World.
January 2: A Middle Eastern Airways Super Comet flying from Beirut to Muscat is stricken by an explosion after landing in Oman, with a bomb apparently being planted in luggage loaded in the cargo bay. Fortuitously, the passengers and most of the crew had already disembarked, with the tardy unloading of the airport's ground crew preventing more casualties than the six crew members still on board. Investigations by Omani and Arab Union officials indicate that the bomb seemed to have been a relatively crude device, possibly the work of Omani rebels.
January 3: Gale force winter storms in Western Europe cause widespread damage across Northern France, the Low Countries and Western Germany, but their more deleterious effects are blocked from blowing into the British Isles by the newly completed outer reaches of the arcane Channel Barrier. Some academic wizards have raised the prospect of the Barrier and other such repulsion spells as potentially causing more extreme weather events elsewhere due to their redirective properties, and argue instead for a kind of 'sorcerous forward defence' against the vagaries of weather.
January 4: A special New Year episode of Top Wheels on the BBC serves as the first unveiling of a number of family and sports cars, ranging from the Bristol Brigand, Rover Tetrad and Aston-Martin Vantage to the Vauxhall Astra, Saxon Sierra, Austin 67 and Morris Hussar, as well as the Bedford Transporter commercial van. Continued wage growth and general prosperity looks to continue the upward growth trend of British automobile ownership, whilst new export agreements with a number of African and South American countries looks to increase demand for more vehicles. The episode does give a sneak preview of the new production line at the BMC plant in Cowley, replete with advanced new industrial robots and machine tools, and several special laser cutting devices.
January 5: Launch of the first atomic powered supercarrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, HIJMS Taihō, at Yokosuka, with a crowd of thousands in attendance. Taihō and her projected sisters are viewed as Japan's most significant move towards full spectrum operations and the capacity to counter the likes of the Pacific Monster.
January 6: The Ministry of Defence begins a review of funding and production arrangements, with a view towards grouping munitions production and procurement under the auspices of the Ministry of Munitions, facilities and establishments under the Ministry of Supply, and of issues pertaining to pensions and military veteran's benefits under a new subordinate ministry. With the anticipated completion of the much of the substantive parts of the Empire Rearmament Programme, and the ever-rising cost of new equipment, consideration is being given to a number of new steps to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the British Commonwealth's military industrial complex.
January 7: Elite French special forces commandos of the Service Action rescue kidnapped French businessman Louis Hazen from captivity, storming a house in Tremblay-les-Villages near Chartres and neutralising his captors. The operation reportedly came a result of information acquired by agents of the Organisation Armée Secrète, a paramilitary group associated with several senior supporters of Premier d'Ambreville.
January 8: A Ministry of Magic investigation into the increased incidence of the phenomenon of naturally magically gifted child prodigies, whose range of abilities seemingly stand at odds with previous understandings of the Art. One boy in particular seems to have been the first to combine such magical precocity with the psionic talents seen in the hitherto separate 'Tomorrow Children' and certain other capabilities, and the report of the investigators recommends the establishment of a new special magical school for the development and harnessing of such talents.
January 9: 15 workers are killed in a boiler explosion at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, after a routine engine test on the recently completed 54,000t container ship MS Anders Maersk. The accident comes amid a marked increase in German shipbuilding over the last two years, with additional orders and offshore platform production pushing annual tonnage upwards of 6 million, ahead of Sweden, France, Italy and the Eastern bloc states.
January 10: The Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan sign an agreement in Tokyo providing for the release of several thousand surviving POWs held in Siberia; Japanese attempts to broach the issue of four particular disputed islands in the Southern Kurils were rebuffed, but both ministers reach an agreement in principle whereby a formal peace treaty between the states will be prepared and signed in Moscow in September.
January 11: The Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Soviet Central Red Army ice hockey team 4-1 in Philadelphia in the a tense and spiteful final match of Super Series '76 ice hockey, and in doing so, become unofficial world champions after inflicting HC CSKA Moscow's only defeat of their North American tour. The match saw several brawls break out, with the Soviet side being perceived as playing 'soft' hockey and not being accustomed to the physical pressure of the North American game, a marked difference from the golden age of Soviet hockey under the direction of Vasily Stalin.
January 12: US toy and children's entertainment industry data indicates that sales in the last quarter of 1974 (not counting Christmas due to it being too recent) increased over the previous year by 23%, with action figures aimed at boys being a particular driver of sales. A number of media properties, fictional series and characters have been forecast as being released in the coming bicentennial year, including Filmation's planned cartoon and comic series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and a number of characters owned by Disney.
January 13: A meeting of the newly established ultra-right wing political party Norsefire is attended by a pair of clandestine Security Service operatives, with their subsequent report describing the thirteen-strong membership as consisting of 'caricatures, cryptofascists, Blimps and the last vomitous dregs of the BUF', and that no action need be taken at this time given their predominate interest lies in bloviating speeches, consumption of alcoholic beverages and living in a past which never existed.
January 14: US special forces operatives of the elite Delta Force raid a secretive village in the Shan Hills of far north of Thailand, arresting a number of communist agitators and suspected North Laotian irregular commmandos who had allegedly gathered to plan the next phase of a guerilla offensive across the northern reaches of Thailand and Burma. Evidence is found of the suspected presence of another special forces team of unknown origin that had apparently been observing the village immediately prior to Operation Cobra Verde.
January 15: Establishment of ten British Empire Composite Air Squadrons, to be based in the South Atlantic, North Atlantic, West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, South Africa, Mediterranean, East Indies, South Pacific and North Pacific, and structured along the lines of the three squadrons of the RAF's No. 373 Rapid Deployment Wing, consisting of 6 Hawker-Siddeley Hurricanes, 4 de Havilland Tornadoes, 4 Vickers Thunderbolts, 4 Fairey Rotodynes, 1 Hawker-Siddeley Skyblazer, 2 Sopwith Camels, 1 Armstrong-Whitworth Warspite gunship and 2 Supermarine Eagle TSR-2 electronic warfare/tankers.
January 16: Commissioning of the latest atomic powered guided missile super battleship of the United States Navy, USS New Mexico BBGN-110, at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. In addition to her main armament of 24"/50 heavy guns and her Solaris and Tomahawk strategic missiles, New Mexico bristles with a full range of offensive and defensive missiles, guns, heat rays, lasers and rockets, including 256 new Colt 25mm autocannons in thirty two octuple mounts, 128 General Defense Mk 25 50mm autocannon in thirty two quad mounts, 6 Legion 37mm twin and 12 Phalanx 25mm quad Close-In Weapon Systems and a number of strange box-like turrets that are yet to be officially identified or acknowledged. Some foreign observers considered the latter to be a new missile system, whilst others believe it to be some sort of sensor; whatever their purpose, there is more to them than meets the eye.
January 17: Wales defeat England 24-9 in their first game of the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham Stadium. They remain the favourites to again win a Grand Slam in the tournament, even though Lyonesse is considered as having their strongest team in 15 years. France, having begun the competition with a strong victory over Scotland on January 10, are expected to be a genuine challenger, but much will depend on the fitness and performance of Jean-Pierre Romeu, 'Le Gaulois'.
January 18: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl, with a major part of the day being the constant anticipation of what misfortune would befall the game on this occasion. Today, the renowned Texas Cowgirls cheerleading squad fall off their portable stage and suffer a wardrobe malfunction, the game balls explode not once, nor twice, but thrice, and there is a brief rain of toads in the fourth quarter, disrupting the game for 29 minutes.
January 19: Senator Henry Jackson emerges narrowly victorious in the Democratic Presidential primary vote at the Iowa Democratic Caucus, with Senator Robert F. Kennedy in second place, Governor James Carter of Georgia third and Californian Senator Bill McKay a more distant fourth. Jackson, having served as Secretary of War under President Kennedy, is well regarded across the country for his strong stance on national defence, but does seem to lag behind former Attorney-General Kennedy in general recognition and breadth of support.
January 20: Big Ben falls silent, for the purposes of maintenance, and does not chime for the next 12 hours as a special gang of repair gnomes busily attends to all required painting, cleaning, oiling and flensing. The exacting process of major upkeep of the great clock occurs every decade, with gnomes employed for more regular duties, as they are more adept in dodging the clock's weights and striking mechanism every quarter of an hour, and they are less likely to engage the defensive enchantments put in place since the Hannay Incident of 1914.
January 21: The Prime Minister of Spain signs orders drafting all 5000 striking postal workers and mailmen in Madrid metropolitan area, calling them up into military service and placing them under army discipline, with a further implicit threat that any holdouts or ring-leaders would find themselves swiftly deployed to man the forts along the Great Sand Wall on the border between Spanish Sahara and Morocco. The decisive action is sufficient to bring an end to the strike, but attracts much criticism for its harshness and what many commentators perceive and heavy-handedness.
January 22: ODESSA's top secret Special Activities Division begins the development of a number of new Neo-Nazi cells across Western Europe, North America and the British Commonwealth, with each to subdivide and create new, more distant satellite organisations and ginger groups for the penetration of existing political parties and civil society organisations. This endeavour, codenamed Projekt Nachschlüssel, is to be conducted completely separately from Projekt Sonnenkinder. Mossad agents are able to determine that a high level meeting has taken place, followed by the dispersal of a number of personnel.
January 23: The Red Army begins testing of a new model of the BMD airborne combat vehicle, the new APT-125 multirole medium tank (aviadesantnaya plavayushchiy tank) which is capable of both airborne and amphibious deployment to a far greater degree of utility and efficiency than previous vehicles, and the latest development of the Bronetransportyor 8x8 wheeled armoured personnel carrier class of vehicles. Additionally, Western intelligence sources indicate that a new improved version of the MT-LB multipurpose tracked armoured carrier, equipped with modernised armament, wider tracks, an improved engine and innovative new protective armour, has been approved for full production, with monthly output from the Kharkov Tractor Plant and the Stalingrad Tractor Plant expected to top 300 a month apiece by the end of the year. The last development is seen as increasingly important by Soviet defence officials, who have long decried the absence of an appropriate equivalent to the versatile M113 or FV432 in the Red Army.
January 24: In response to rising unrest, internecine civil strife and mounting violence between religious based factions in the Lebanon, and at the direct invitation of the Prince, the 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère and the 4e Brigade de Fusiliers Marins of the Marine Royale land outside Beirut and proceed to deploy into the capital to provide stabilisation aid to the Lebanese Army and civil authorities, with the French Army's 25e Division Aeromobile being flown in administratively to secure Beirut International Airport. A further invitation to the United States and Britain to contribute reinforcements of goodwill is accepted, with the U.S. 11th Airborne Division and the 10th Marine Amphibious Brigade, and the British 8th Royal Marine Brigade, along with the British Army's 2nd Parachute Brigade, 7th Commando Brigade, 24th Infantry Brigade and the 68th Infantry Brigade, being alerted for deployment over the coming week.
January 25: Austro-Hungarian Formula One driver Niki Lauda wins the Brazilian Grand Prix in São Paulo, narrowly ahead of British trio Graham Hill, Tom Pryce and James Hunt, with Mario Andretti rounding out the top five. Veteran Jackie Stewart, in what is set to be his final Formula One season, performed creditably despite mechanical issues, and New Zealander Bruce McLaren finished very strongly, ahead of Hollywood superstar Steve McQueen. Noted British actor Sir Christopher Lee was the winner in a charity race after the main Grand Prix, somewhat unsurprisingly given his broad range of talents.
January 26: The US Senate votes to extend the United States’ exclusive fishing zone out to a distance of 200nm in line with recent foreign moves and ongoing discussions on a League of Nations convention on the law of the sea. The extension is expected to cause a number of issues with Soviet deep sea trawlers in the Atlantic and more significantly the North Pacific, where there has been greater reticence to operate far away from land without a strong supporting fleet, given the particular natural threats in that ocean.
January 27: Panorama carries a special episode on the continuing renaissance of English cuisine, featuring an examination of English salmis and other cured meats, the rediscovery of loseyns and loxen, the modern rise of the beefburger, meatball and flatbreads, the increased presence of soup dispenser machines and automats across London and other great series, and a behind-the-scenes sneak preview of Delia Smith's new Cookery at Home series, where she demonstrates to busy housewives how master such familiar dishes as pies and roasts, along with more exotic fare such as dried wheat noodles with minced beef ragout.
January 28: Australia defeat the West Indies in the 6th Test at Adelaide Oval by 42 runs, winning the series 3-2 and retaining the Sir Frank Worrell Trophy in a summer of cricket of the highest quality. Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson lead the way with the ball for Australia, taking 32 and 29 wickets apiece, whilst Andy Roberts with 24, Michael Holding with 20, Joel Garner with 18 and Lance Gibbs with 16 battled valiantly for the tourists. Star young batsman Viv Richards topped the series run aggregate with 926, including three centuries, followed by Greg Chappell with 754, Ian Redpath with 629, Ian Chappell with 532, Clive Lloyd with 487, Gordon Greenidge with 429 and Alvin Kallicharan with 425. The West Indies will now go on to play the strong India side at home and then tour England over the northern summer, whilst Australia are to tour the United States and Canada before a highly anticipated series against South Africa at home.
January 29: German aviation industry executives arrive in South America for a special sales and promotion tour with an aim of cracking the large Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean markets, as well as those of smaller states. Paraguay in particular is very close to an agreement for the purchase of 84 new Messerschmitt fighter jets as it looks to diversify its military suppliers and replace her aging air forces.
January 30: Opening of the first year-round ski resorts in Scotland and Wales at Glenshee and on the Snowdon massif, with new snowmaking technology and enchantments providing for permanent snow cover sufficient for alpine sports.
January 31: Local elections are held across the Falkland Islands, with the recent increase in population seeing an extra eight seats being added to the Legislative Council. For the first time at this year's British general election, a full slate of candidates will be competing to become the Falklands' first Westminster MP, with popular former policeman John Boulton the current favourite to secure the seat, one of the wealthiest in Britain on a per capita basis.

[jemhouston]

Busy month.

[Simon Darkshade]

One way or another, every month is busy.

Some events are more significant than others, and they don't represent the sum total of everything that was going on in the world on an individual day, and I don't think for a second that Test cricket results, ski resorts and He-Man are on a par with possible civil wars resulting in large scale deployments to Lebanon, US elections or some other events which illustrate troublesome moves behind the scenes of nominal international peace.

In the course of looking at the day by day history of our world from 1946-1975 over the last 10 years, I've been able to take in a lot of history, and a lot of the small bits and pieces of history which add up incrementally. The sheer number of air crashes and railway accidents in the 1940s-1970s is quite astonishing, and got me to thinking how it could be ameliorated in a world/universe with certain different capabilities. If we want grimdark, we don't need 1980s British science fiction games, but just need to look into the daily casualties of WW1, WW2 or even Korea and Vietnam; sometimes, there is a challenge to find a good news story, but there is hope if you dig deep enough.

What didn't occur in DE that did on Earth in 1976?
- Venezuela nationalising their oil industry
- The independence of Tuvalu
- TV introduced to South Africa (much earlier in DE)
- No fault divorce introduced in Australia
- Terrorist massacres in Northern Ireland
- The Khmer Rouge cements their evil rule
- Italian political scandals due to CIA money eventually bringing down a government
- The Third Cod War rages, until an Icelandic victory
- Chou En-Lai dies
- The Pathfinder Hotel in Fremont, Nebraska blows up in a natural gas explosion
- A coup in Ecuador
- Sarah Jane Moore gets life for shooting at President Ford
- Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell is cancelled
- Massacres in Beirut
- Jimmy Carter wins Iowa
- Art thefts in France
- The USSC rules campaign finance limits unconstitutional in Buckley v. Valeo, opening the door to the modern age of political advertising and campaign donations

[Simon Darkshade]

Coming up in February:
- Sal Mineo fights off a mugger
- Domestication of the zebra
- Opening of the next fusion power plant in Britain at Springfields, joining Darkmoor, Windscale, Blyth and Brough-on-Humber
- An earthquake in Guatemala
- The swine flu fizzles and the last known flu deaths in USA occur prior to the rollout of a universal influenza vaccine
- Rutland Water is flooded
- Jeremy Thorpe becomes leader of the Liberal Party; to head off the inevitable question, Norman Scott and Rinka are alive and living in Lincolnshire with Scott’s wife and son, having never met Thorpe
- Operatic rivalries and machinations, replete with Wagner’s ghost (again)
- Comet West shows up
- More British Commonwealth infantry reforms play out, with a heavy weapons section added per company, including new anti-tank rifles, automatic rocket launchers similar to the T134E1, semi-auto individual rocket blasters, belt fed very long range combat ‘shotguns’ (under different names), man portable grenade machine guns, .256” and .303” micro and mini-guns
- Some very different Soviet economic growth prospects; they are far, far less oil dependent
- A submarine incident occurs off the Falklands and a scrap contract for old machinery and buildings on South Georgia is put out to tender
- Some interesting twists and turns in US fighter development and orders, with an interesting party ordering the F-14

[Paul Nuttall]

January 1976

January 16: Commissioning of the latest atomic powered guided missile super battleship of the United States Navy, USS New Mexico BBGN-110, at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. In addition to her main armament of 24"/50 heavy guns and her Solaris and Tomahawk strategic missiles, New Mexico bristles with a full range of offensive and defensive missiles, guns, heat rays, lasers and rockets, including 256 new Colt 25mm autocannons in thirty two octuple mounts, 128 General Defense Mk 25 50mm autocannon in thirty two quad mounts, 6 Legion 37mm twin and 12 Phalanx 25mm quad Close-In Weapon Systems and a number of strange box-like turrets that are yet to be officially identified or acknowledged. Some foreign observers considered the latter to be a new missile system, whilst others believe it to be some sort of sensor; whatever their purpose, there is more to them than meets the eye.
J

Have the 'designers' of the Trump class been reading your notes?

[Simon Darkshade]

I don’t think so; the size difference is quite marked, without the curious length of ‘840-880ft’, and the reason for continued small gun armament does come from the different world.

[Bernard Woolley]

“More than meets the eye”?
They don’t transform do they?

[Simon Darkshade]

I see someone picked up on that.

The boxy turrets do ‘transform’, but not in a ‘robot toys for little boys’ sense. It does utilise some technology from the Japanese transformer projects, but that will be revealed in due course, apart from first noticeablr fact that the mount comes out of its armoured box like a jack-in-the-box.

The ‘transformation’ comes in the sense of being a multi-role Close In Weapons System that combines a selection of autocannon and missiles/guided rockets/high velocity missiles with what looks to be powerful new radars that have a secondary role as high powered microwave beam weapons. The ‘selection’ component consists of different modules that can be fitted to the weapons system/mount; the default one is something like a Kashtan with twin autocannon and 2 x 4 missiles in cute little box launchers. The intent is that the 8 missiles can be swapped for 24 guided rockets, and that the current 30mm GAU-8 autocannon can be swapped for different guns as and when they are developed.

The guidance radars can be ‘flipped’ to expose the microwave weapons; this respect is the closest to anything ‘transformer-y’ in practical terms.

[There are plans to incorporate missiles into the Legion and Phalanx CIWS mounts, but those wouldn’t be selectable, but standardised.]

[Jotun]

I see someone picked up on that.

The boxy turrets do ‘transform’, but not in a ‘robot toys for little boys’ sense. It does utilise some technology from the Japanese transformer projects, but that will be revealed in due course, apart from first noticeablr fact that the mount comes out of its armoured box like a jack-in-the-box.

The ‘transformation’ comes in the sense of being a multi-role Close In Weapons System that combines a selection of autocannon and missiles/guided rockets/high velocity missiles with what looks to be powerful new radars that have a secondary role as high powered microwave beam weapons. The ‘selection’ component consists of different modules that can be fitted to the weapons system/mount; the default one is something like a Kashtan with twin autocannon and 2 x 4 missiles in cute little box launchers. The intent is that the 8 missiles can be swapped for 24 guided rockets, and that the current 30mm GAU-8 autocannon can be swapped for different guns as and when they are developed.

The guidance radars can be ‘flipped’ to expose the microwave weapons; this respect is the closest to anything ‘transformer-y’ in practical terms.

[There are plans to incorporate missiles into the Legion and Phalanx CIWS mounts, but those wouldn’t be selectable, but standardised.]

I'm of a mind to design an Imperial German or otherwise European dreadnaought that goes for precision and not ridiculous amounts of dakka (seriously, the ship should be called Bad Moons Clan and painted yellow )

[Simon Darkshade]

All of the Colt 25mm and the GD Mk 25 50mm are unmanned mounts, but there is a continued emphasis on defensive firepower, even as the main defensive weapons of said ships are their missiles.

Precision works well for the strategic and tactical exigencies of our world, but there are others, such as DE.

[Jotun]

I might cook something up. That BB(N) just SCREAMS "Fahrpahr".

I am actually breaking it down to how US and Germany in @ approach defence against RAM. The Americans use the 20mm CIWS, which is waste of ammo made manifest, while ze Germans use 30-35mm explosive shells in controlled, very precisely aimed bursts.

All in good fun…

[Simon Darkshade]

BBGN, to be precise.

The 1960/61 Deutsches Marine had

CV: Kaiser Wilhelm IV, Friedrich der Grosse
BB: Deutschland, Preussen, Bayern, Sachsen
CA: Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Koln, Leipzig, Munich, Hamburg, Nurnburg, Dusseldorf
DDG: Seydlitz, Moltke, Blucher, Yorck
DD: Werner von Urslingen, Hermann von Salza, Franz von Sickingen, Hans von Sagan, Georg von Frundsberg, Ernst von Mansfield, Gotz von Berlichingen, Freiherr von Munchhausen, Ulrich von Hutten, Florian Geyer, Konrad von Landau, Dietrich von Bern
FF: Trier, Hagen, Chemnitz, Wuppertal, Heidelberg, Hameln, Sigmaringen, Freiburg, Kassel, Koblenz, Dortmund, Erfurt, Lubeck, Wismar, Stralsund, Rostock, Mannheim, Bonn, Munster, Mainz, Oldenburg, Regensburg, Ulm, Kiel, Karlsruhe
FTB: Lowe, Luchs, Tiger, Panther, Wolf, Fuchs, Jaguar, Leopard, Gepard, Puma, Ozelot, Hyane

FAC: Drache, Zentaur, Einhorn, Nymphe, Medusa, Thetis, Niobe, Nautilus, Seeadler, Albatross, Kondor, Greif, Falke, Geier, Bussard, Pelikan, Storch, Kranich, Elster, Haher, Reiher, Weihe, Mowe, Roc, Habicht, Sperber, Kormoran, Iltis, Marder, Frettchen, Hermelin, Nerz, Wiesel, Zobel, Alk, Dachs, Gazelle, Eber

SS: U-1, U-2, U-3, U-4, U-5, U-6, U-7, U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12, U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20, U-21, U-22, U-23, U-24, U-25

MS: Radegast, Thale, Zeitz, Wolfstein, Braunfels, Rodermark, Hanau, Lindau, Wetzlar, Tubingen, Paderborn, Rottwell, Dillingen, Homburg, Marburg, Flensburg, Volkingen, Fulda, Siegburg, Auerbach, Rosheim, Landau, Greiz, Eisenberg, Weilheim, Cuxhaven, Duren, Weiden, Frankenthal, Passau, Herten

That breaks down as

Carriers: 52,000t, 950ft x 120ft/179ft x 32.5ft, 50 aircraft (18 F-11 Tigers, 24 Seahawks, 8 SH-34) , 12 x 128mm, 24 x 40mm, 33kts

Battleships: 120,000t, 8 x 600mm, 24 x 128mm, 32 x 88mm, 64 x 40mm, 128 x 25mm, 32kts

Cruisers: 24,000t, 732ft x 78ft x 26ft; 8 x 240mm, 12 x 128mm, 24 x 88mm, 24 x 25mm; 2 x 32 Terrier; 2 helicopters, 33kts

DDGs: 6400t, 480ft x 46ft x 16ft; 2 x 24 Tartar, 4 x 128mm, 8 x 40mm, 8 x 25mm, 2 x Bofors 375mm ASW mortars, 1 x ASROC, 1 helicopter, 35 kts

DDs: 5600t, 460ft x 45ft x 15.5ft, 8 x 128mm, 8 x 40mm, 8 x 25mm, 4 x ASW TT, 2 x Bofors 375mm ASW mortars, 1 ASROC, 35kts

Both destroyer types are based on a 'mash up' of the Hamburg class destroyers and the training cruiser Deutschland, which I've always liked due to her nice lines and symmetry.

Frigates: 3600t, 380ft x 38ft x 15ft, 4 x 105mm, 4 x 40mm, 8 x 25mm, 4 x ASW TT, 2 x Bofors 375mm ASW mortars, 1 ASROC, 32kts

Slightly enlarged Koln class

Flottentorpedobooten: 2400t, 350ft x 36ft x 12ft, 2 x 105mm, 4 x 40mm, 8 x 25mm, 4 x 60cm ASuW TT, 4 x ASW TT. 1 x Bofors 375mm ASW mortar, 36kts

FAC: Basically 250t Jaguar class fast attack craft from @

Submarines: U-2, U-3, U-5, U-7, U-8, U-9, U-11, U-12, U-13, U-15, U-16, U-18, U-19, U-21, U-23 and U-24 are analogous to the Type 205, and U-1, U-4, U-6, U-10, U-13, U-14, U-17, U-20, U-22, U-25 are analogous to the Type 209s. The first category are the Baltischeflotte and the second, larger boats serve in the North Sea (and beyond) with the Heimatflotte.

Minesweepers: Lindau class equivalents


-------------------------------------

So, the German 'heavies' follow the practice of most 1950s Western battleships and cruisers in that they retain nominally large light AA batteries; these are often unmanned in large part in peacetime.

During the 1960s, a lot of the earlier weapons are increasingly replaced, with the older 25mm being replaced by automatic/remotely fired Mauser 25mm revolver cannon, the 40mm by a quite brutal 37mm Rheinmetall with a substantive ROF, and some of the 88mm mounts removed from the battleships and cruisers to make way for missile systems. Note that not all of this replacement was on a one for one basis, and that the new mounts were largely remotely fired ones vs the older manned mounts; both of the newer Light AA mounts, like their counterparts in the USA, France and Britain, employ a type of 'ball turret' that provides for more flexible fields of fire.

Part of the German design philosophy was to build for the future, so that even as there were restrictions on some of their ships going to sea carrying missiles in the early 1960s, there was space and capacity built in for future installation.

The 25mm/lightest AA/GP guns are retained not just for anti-aircraft purposes, but for the multitude of shipboard uses and missions; what the RN would call 'junk bashing'.

Your suggestion of the controlled, precise 'Teutonically efficient' burst is exactly how I see the German Navy operating.

This combined approach did result in some very useful performance by German ships off the coast of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, with the German DDGs in particular getting an extremely high reputation as excellent 'goalkeeper' ships for carriers. German battleships, cruisers and destroyers on rotation to the Far East provided substantial fire support to the German brigade, which operated in the Gia Dinh Province, and to the Benelux brigade which operated next door in Go Cong Province.

[Jotun]

Cool!
And you actually included my personal naval hobby horse and pet peeve, construction reserve. Tonnage is dirt cheap. You want to build a naval vessel of X tons displacement? Cool. Add at least 25 percent tonnage, put in ballast as needed to ensure stability and seaworthiness, and WHEN new systems need to be installed, you have cubic acres of space to play with.

There is a reason the planned @ German Navy's F127 air defence "frigates" are to be in the 10,000 - 12,000 tons displacement range.

[Simon Darkshade]

Thank you!

It is also a hobby horse of mine as well. For a relatively small part of the overall cost of a new ship, allowing for future growth does make for a very reasonable expense.

The newest German DDG designs of the mid 1970s have grown incrementally in that sense to ~ 8600t, and they are being joined by some new construction DLGs that are around the ~12500t range.

This is broadly similar to developments in America, Britain, France, the USSR, China and Japan with regard to first line surface ship size.

In December 1974, there was this:

“ Commissioning of the first of the Soviet Navy’s Project 236 guided missile destroyers, known to Western intelligence as the Sovremenny class. At over 10,000 tons standard displacement, the Sovremennys represent the closest equivalents to the British Type 42 and American Spruance class DLGs, featuring a very heavy gun armament of three quad 130mm mounts, six quad 52mm mounts, four twin 37mm AK-630 CWS and eight quad 23mm light general purpose gun mounts; 8 SS-N-19 Shipwreck and 24 SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles; 2 SA-N-6 medium range surface to air missile launchers and 4 SA-N-4 short range SAM launchers; twin RBU-6000 launchers and eight SS-N-15 Starfish ASW missiles; and two helicopters.”

(That follows the Soviet pattern of cramming a lot of stuff on board its ships, with the 52mm being a DE development of the earlier 45mm. The quad 130s are the next generation of the mount outlined and shown 2/3rds of the way down this page: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thread ... ect.20557/ )

Over on Lordroel’s board, I had occasion to put together this list:

Bay class submarine chaser
640t, 250ft x 30ft x 9ft; COGAG; Range 4000nm @ 18kts; 2 x 2.5", 4 x 25mm; 4 x Skyflash, 8 x Sea Skua; 4 x 15" Sting Ray ASW TT; 50 knots

Flower class corvette
1250t, 320ft x 36ft x 12ft; COGAG; Range 4000nm @ 15kts; 2 x 105mm/70, 2 x twin 2.5"/75, 2 x 42mm, 4 x 34mm, 6 x 25mm; 1 Legion CWS; VLS with 8 Sea Wolf, 4 Paladin, 8 Sea Skua; 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT, 2 x 15" ASW rocket launchers; 1 x Westland Lynx, 40 knots

Castle class corvette
2500t, 360ft x 50ft x 15ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 15kts; 2 x twin 105mm/70, 2 x twin 2.5"/75, 2 x twin 42mm, 4 x 34mm, 8 x 25mm; 1 Legion CWS; VLS with 16 Sea Wolf, 8 Paladin, 16 Sea Skua; 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT, 2 x 15" ASW rocket launchers; 1 x Westland Sea King, 35 knots

Black Swan class sloop
3200t, 400ft x 55ft x 15, CODAG, Range 20000nm @ 10kts; 2 x twin 105mm/70, 4 x twin 42mm, 4 x 34mm DACR, 8 x 25mm; 1 x 15” ASW rocket launcher, 2 x quad 15” Sting Ray ASW TT; 1 x Westland Sea King, 25kts

Type 21 ASW Frigates
5000 tons; 480ft x 50ft x 18ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 20kts; 1 x twin 125mm, 4 x 2.5"/75, 4 x twin 42mm, 4 x 25mm; 1 Legion CWS; 1 twin launcher with 24 Sea Wolf + 8 Icarus; 8 Paladin SSM; 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT, 4 x 15" ASW rocket launchers; 2 x Westland Sea King, 35 knots

Type 22 AAW Frigates
5250 tons; 480ft x 52ft x 18ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 20kts; 1 x twin 125mm, 4 x 2.5"/75, 4 x twin 42mm, 8 x 25mm; 1 Legion CWS; 1 twin launcher with 32 Sea Dart + 8 Icarus; 8 Paladin SSM, 32 Sea Wolf SAM; 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT; 2 x Westland Sea King, 35 knots

Type 23 ASuW Frigates
5625 tons; 480ft x 52ft x 18ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 20 knots; 2 x twin 125mm; 4 x 2.5"/75, 4 x twin 42mm, 8 x 25mm, 2 Legion CWS; VLS with 32 Sea Eagle, 24 Sea Wolf + 8 Icarus; 12 Paladin SSM; 2 x quadruple 15" Sting Ray ASW TT; 2 x Westland Sea King, 35 knots

U class DDG
8600 tons, 569ft x 58ft x 18ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 20 knots; 2 x twin 125mm, 6 x twin 42mm, 4 x 34mm DACR, 6 x 25mm twin GP, 2 Legion CWS, 4 x 8 Sea Wolf Point Defence Missile Systems; 2 VLS with 32 Sea Dart and 4 Icarus each; 8 Paladin SSM; 1 x 8 Gauntlet ASW, 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT”; 2 x Westland Sea King, 35kts

Type 42 DLG
12500t; 650ft x 65ft x 25ft; COGAG; Range 6500nm @ 20kts; 2 x twin 6”, 8 x 2.5”, 6 x quad 42mm, 8 x 34mm DACR, 12 x twin 25mm GP; 4 x Legion CWS, 4 x 8 Sea Wolf Point Defence Missile Systems; 2 VLS with 48 Sea Blade/Sea Dart 2, 12 Paladin SSM and 4 Icarus ASW each; 8 x Lionheart SLCM in ABL; 1 x 8 Gauntlet ASW, 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT; 2 x Westland Sea King, 35 knots

The American counterparts are here:

Pegasus class PHM
360 tons; 150ft x 30ft x 8ft; CODAG; Range 500nm @ 50kts; 1 x 76mm, 1 x 25mm Phalanx CIWS, 4 x Harpoon SSM; 64 knots

Hawk class corvette/‘light strike corvette’
1200 tons; 290ft x 36ft x 10ft; CODAG; Range 3600nm @ 20 kts; 1 x 105mm, 1 x 25mm Phalanx CIWS, 4 x 25mm; 1 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 8 x Harpoon SSM, 2 x quad 15" Sting Ray ASW TT; 1 x Sea Sprite; 48 knots

New London class corvette
2500t; 360ft x 42ft x 15ft; COGAG; Range 4200nm @ 20kts; 1 x 105mm, 2 x 50mm, 4 x 25mm, 1 x 25mm Phalanx CIWS; 1 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 8 x ASROC, 8 x Harpoon, 2 x quad 15" Sting Ray ASW TT; 1 x SH-3 Sea King, 36 knots

Knox class DE
5200 tons; 480ft x 50ft x 18ft; COGAG; Range 5000nm @ 20kts; 1 x twin 5”, 4 x 50mm, 6 x twin 25mm; 1 Legion 37mm CWS; 1 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 8 x ASROC, 8 Harpoon SSM; 2 x quadruple 15” Sting Ray ASW TT; 2 x SH-3 Sea King, 32 knots

Oliver Hazard Perry class DEG
5625t, 1 x twin 5”, 4 x 50mm, 6 x twin 25mm, 2 Legion 37mm CIWS, 8 x ASROC, 1 x Weapon Alpha, 1 x Sea Sparrow, 48 cell VLS with Standard SR, 8 x Harpoon, 2 x SH-3 Sea King; 32 knots

Nimitz class DDG
8750t, 2 x twin 5”, 4 x 50mm, 8 x twin 25mm, 2 x 37mm Legion CWS, 2 x 25mm Phalanx CWS, 1 x 80 cell VLS with Standard MR, 8 ASROC, 2 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 8 x Harpoon, 2 x SH-3 Sea King; 32 knots

Spruance class DLG
12560t, 2 x twin 6”/60, 4 x 3”/75 SR, 8 x 50mm, 12 x twin 25mm, 2 Legion CWS, 2 Phalanx CIWS, 2 x 64 cell VLS with Standard MR, 8 ASROC, 2 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 8 x SLCM, 16 Harpoon SSM, 2 Kaman Rotodynes, 32 knots

Los Angeles class CGN:
25,870t, 2 x twin 12”/70, 4 x 5”, 8 x 3”/75 SR, 12 x 50mm, 12 x twin 25mm, 2 x Legion CIWS, 4 x Phalanx CIWS, 2 x 64 cell VLS with Standard LR, 4 x 32 cell VLS with Standard SR, 8 ASROC, 4 x 24 Sea Sparrow, 24 x SLCM, 24 x Harpoon SSM, 2 Kaman Rotodynes, 32.5 knots

(Here, from the 1950s, the USN fielded the 250nm Triton on battleships, the 150nm Talos on cruisers, the 50nm Terrier on destroyers and the 20nm Tartar on destroyer escorts and as secondary missiles on the cruisers and battleships, This was followed in the 1960s by the Typhon in LR (180nm), MR (75nm) and SR (25nm) versions, such that the Triton has never quite been properly replaced. In the 1970s, the Standard replaces the LR, MR and SR Typhons and residual Talos/Terrier/Tartar, and the Triton is replaced by the Supernova missile. )

[Simon Darkshade]

A little preview of February:

February 7: Rutland Water, the largest artificial lake in Britain, is officially declared open, completing a five year process of construction and flooding. It serves as a reservoir for both domestic consumption and industrial purposes for the booming East Midlands, and has a secondary role as a pleasure and recreation lake for the surrounding populace. The industrial demands for water from the steelworks at Corby, the massive brickworks complex at Peterborough, the heavy machinery plants at Grantham, the shoe factories of Northampton and the many manufactories of Leicester are all set to be catered to by the capacity of the new reservoir, along of course with the nearby atomic power plant currently under construction. Completion of extensions to the Grand Contour Canal, linking up Rutland Water with the water supply and canal network of the Midlands and Southern England, is expected to follow by the end of July.

February 10: After much deliberation, the US Air Force selects a heavily modified land-based version of the Northrop-Grumman F-14 Tomcat for its requirement for a medium ranged fighter-interceptor for service with Air Defense Command. Studies had shown that the baseline F-14 would be up to 1.7 times more effective in the postulated role than a McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle, and subsequent modifications to the ADCOM Tomcat, including a stretched fuselage, conformal fuel tanks and capacity for up to 12 AIM-54 missiles, increased this relative effectiveness to 2.36:1. An initial order for the first batch of 480 ADCOM Tomcats, or sufficient aircraft for 6 wings, is to be placed in the 1976/77 budgetary year; it is intended fill the gap between the projected active duty ADCOM force of 288 F-20s and 864 F-21s.

February 11: The first boat of a new class of Soviet SSBN is laid down under tight security at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. The enormous 244 metre long submarines are to carry upwards of 30 SLBMs of a new design, and are equipped with a new, highly stealthy pump-jet propulsion system. Despite the extensive efforts made to keep away prying Western eyes, the laying down is observed by a British wizard of the Secret Intelligence Service arcanely transmogrified into the form of a long distance duck.

February 12: American actor Sal Mineo fights off a mugger who accosts him as he parks his car outside his apartment in West Hollywood, using his new Taser Public Defender electrical stun gun to shock the knife wielding wretch into submission. A passing policeman rushes to the commotion and dispatches the would-be criminal with all eight rounds of his standard police issue Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum AMP after he twitched his hand near the knife. Mineo is shaken, but not harmed.

February 17: Jeremy Thorpe replaces Sir Arthur Chamberlain as leader of the Liberal Party, with the younger Thorpe seen as presenting a more dynamic and popular front for the party in this year's General Election. Sir Arthur, who remains popular with the general public as a strong, traditional Liberal Imperialist, has agreed to remain as Deputy Leader at the behest of former Prime Minister Sir Richard Harcourt, 79, who remains a strong force in the Liberals and the House of Commons. The Liberals are aiming at attaining the balance of power in what promises to be an extraordinarily close election, with current polling having Labour on 31%, the Conservatives on 32% and the Liberals narrowly behind at 26%.

February 18: Renowned South African zoologist Dr. Andrew Steyn announces that a long running programme in Bechuanaland for the domestication of the zebra through selective breeding, conditioning and arcane modification has finally succeeded. The dramatic revelation is somewhat delayed as the good doctor is late for the press conference after his well-seasoned Land Rover breaks down, again, and he had to be driven into the event by his sometime assistant, a smiling Bushman named Xi.

February 20: Opening of newest nuclear fusion power station in Britain at Springfields in Salwick, Lancashire, with the 10,000 megawatt plant joining those at Windscale, Darkmoor, Bramford and Brough-on-Humber, whilst the installations at Tilbury, Weston-super-Mare, Empingham, Redditch and Huddersfield due to be completed in August, March 1977, June 1977, December 1977 and February 1978 respectively. Further fusion plants are planned for Pennard, Greenfield, Borstal, Chesterfield, Marchwood, Cattawade, Spalding-on-Wash, Marnham, Godmanchester, Henley, Blyth, Londonderry, Shannon, Chapelcross and Torness over the next 12 years, along with new fusion powered reactors on the site of current nuclear power plants at Hinkley Point, Sizewell, Bradwell, Berkeley, Trawsfynydd, Heysham and Hartlepool. The tremendous increase in electrical power generation provided by the new and projected facilities is the subject of much study and discussion, with domestic power costs estimated to drop significantly in time, and new industrial opportunities to open up to utilise the new power of the future.

[Simon Darkshade]

February 1976
February 1: The CDC indicates that the period of concern over the so-called ‘swine flu’ had passed, with the current and projected rates of administration of the the universal influenza vaccine across the USA leading to effective herd immunity by next winter. Subsequent health records will show that this day also saw the last known influenza death in America, an indigent ne’erdowell in Colorado.
February 2: Gunmen supporting the independence of French Somaliland take a bus with 29 French schoolchildren captive and force it to drive to the Abyssinian border. The bus is intercepted by heliborne French special forces and stormed by power armour-clad commandos utilising pacifier beams, with all children being rescued unharmed and the terrorists taken prisoner for interrogation, trial and execution. Four Orage strike bombers of the Royale Service Aeronautique rocket, bomb, strafe and napalm suspected guerrilla bases across the border in the Ogaden that evening, leading to outraged protests from Addis Ababa.
February 3: The British Joint Intelligence Committee approves a plan that will see funding for all six of Britain’s major intelligence services (the Security Service, the Special Intelligence Service, Special Operations Executive, the Information Research Department, Government Communications Headquarters and the Imperial Security Bureau) effectively double by 1980, along with the further incorporation of the next generation of cutting edge intelligent super computing engines and networked mainframes into intelligence operations.
February 4: A massive earthquake registering 7.5 on the Richter scale strikes Guatemala just after 0300 in the morning, with the epicentre being around the Motagua Fault some 100 miles northeast of Guatemala City. The early hour of the earthquake contributes to the large scale civilian deaths and damage, with over 25,000 feared dead, many of whom had been sleeping with the disaster struck. Thousands are left homeless, and roads, electricity and communications infrastructure all suffer significant damage. International forces move to provide relief to the overwhelmed Guatemalan government, chief among them being a USN amphibious group based around USS Peleliu and USS Eniwetok, which carries over 100 helicopters and other rotary wing aircraft.
February 5: President Reagan signs an order authorising the establishment of an investigative commission into the efficiency and optimal organisation of Class I US freight and passenger railroads, emphasising the importance of a strong, smoothly-running rail network for the nation's defence, whilst also opening the door to recommendations for the consolidation of companies into efficient and common sense regional conglomerates should that be seen as optimal.
February 6: Rhodesian Prime Minister Sir Garfield Todd officially proclaims victory in the long running Bush War which took place from 1965 to 1975 in the north of the country, with no guerilla activities or attempts at incursion from the Congo occurring since the final months of 1974. The conflict cost over £15,000 million and 1624 lives on behalf of Rhodesia alone, with several thousands of guerillas thought to have been casualties; the turning point is considered by some observers in Salisbury to have been the end of the Vietnam War, which allowed for the redirection of American and British support from Indochina to other locations, including Southern Africa, whilst others ascribe it more to the Anglo-American moves to nudge Katanga towards its current role as a de facto buffer state, even as it still nominally remains under the rule of Leopoldville.
February 7: Rutland Water, the largest artificial lake in Britain, is officially declared open, completing a five year process of construction and flooding. It serves as a reservoir for both domestic consumption and industrial purposes for the booming East Midlands, and has a secondary role as a pleasure and recreation lake for the surrounding populace. The industrial demands for water from the steelworks at Corby, the massive brickworks complex at Peterborough, the heavy machinery plants at Grantham, the shoe factories of Northampton and the many manufactories of Leicester are all set to be catered to by the capacity of the new reservoir, along of course with the nearby atomic power plant currently under construction. Completion of extensions to the Grand Contour Canal, linking up Rutland Water with the water supply and canal network of the Midlands and Southern England, is expected to follow by the end of July.
February 8: The last two closed border crossings between Hong Kong and China are reopened, with heavy units of both sides conspicuous in their absence from the immediate line of the fortified border wall, in a sign of continued reduction in tensions and normalisation of activities in the area. Whilst the tanks, carriers and self-propelled artillery of the British garrison are no longer forward deployed, they remain in place, along with the Army's Blue Water missiles, as a sign that, whilst tensions have been progressively ratcheted down, the security situation of Hong Kong and its 5 million British subjects remains one of readiness.
February 9: His Royal Highness Prince Charles, known in his professional capacity in the Royal Navy as Captain Wales, is assigned command of the guided missile super destroyer HMS Sheffield, assigned at present to the Grand Fleet, but later scheduled to accompany the atomic powered carrier HMS Ark Royal and the guided missile battleship HMS Hood on a cruise of the West Indies and North America in the summer, prior to a deployment East of Suez. The provision of security for the first in line to the throne is seen as not particularly egregious whilst onboard his command, given the inherent defensibility of a warship at sea, but a special detachment of Yeomen of the Guard and a team from the Special Boat Service are to be attached, along with certain other aides, in addition to support being carried by an accompanying nuclear submarine. Whilst the Prince of Wales is personally keen on continuing his military service for as long as possible, other official duties are being considered as part of his preparation for the throne.
February 10: After much deliberation, the US Air Force selects a heavily modified land-based version of the Northrop-Grumman F-14 Tomcat for its requirement for a medium ranged fighter-interceptor for service with Air Defense Command. Studies had shown that the baseline F-14 would be up to 1.7 times more effective in the postulated role than a McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle, and subsequent modifications to the ADCOM Tomcat, including a stretched fuselage, conformal fuel tanks and capacity for up to 12 AIM-54 missiles, increased this relative effectiveness to 2.36:1. An initial order for the first batch of 480 ADCOM Tomcats, or sufficient aircraft for 6 wings, is to be placed in the 1976/77 budgetary year; it is intended fill the gap between the projected active duty ADCOM force of 288 F-20s and 864 F-21s.
February 11: The first boat of a new class of Soviet SSBN is laid down under tight security at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. The enormous 244 metre long submarines are to carry upwards of 30 SLBMs of a new design, and are equipped with a new, highly stealthy pump-jet propulsion system. Despite the extensive efforts made to keep away prying Western eyes, the laying down is observed by a British wizard of the Secret Intelligence Service arcanely transmogrified into the form of a long distance duck.
February 12: American actor Sal Mineo fights off a mugger who accosts him as he parks his car outside his apartment in West Hollywood, using his new Taser Public Defender electrical stun gun to shock the knife wielding wretch into submission. A passing policeman rushes to the commotion and dispatches the would-be criminal with all eight rounds of his standard issue .44 Magnum AMP after he twitched his hand near the knife. Mineo is shaken, but not harmed.
February 13: The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army and the highest ranking African in the country’s military is assassinated in an attempted coup d’état in Lagos whilst being driven through the city to military headquarters. Loyalist forces put down the revolt, retaking the Radio Lagos station, whilst the British 74th Infantry Brigade, the Vickers Valiant tanks of the 124th Royal Tank Regiment and the elite Zulus of the 5th African Division move into their emergency staging positions in and around the capital in a show of force whilst not directly intervening. The precise operations during the coup attempt are in line with the latest iteration of the ‘Barton Doctrine’, which calls for Britain to provide intelligence and training support to national militaries in Africa in order to allow them to confront internal security challenges in their own right and as a manifestation of their evolving sovereignty. No comment is issued on the role of British officers and NCOs on secondment to the Nigerian Army, or the quite active role played by plain clothed civilian ‘security consultants’ engaged by the Nigerian government.
February 14: An international agreement between the US Food for Peace program, the British Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture, the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Australian Department of Primary Industries is signed in Washington creating a framework for the coordination of markedly increased agricultural surpluses for more concerted food aid to states in Africa, South America, India and the Orient with an ambitious aim of eliminating global hunger by 1985. US Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin states that, with the increased yield delivered from new strains of staple crops, there is absolutely the capacity to feed the world and combat communism.
February 15: BAC, de Havilland, Armstrong-Whitworth, Handley-Page and Hawker-Siddeley all unveil new airliners on an evening BBC television special, marking the first time that the medium had been used in a coordinated fashion such as this. The Hawker-Siddeley HS 256 Hotspur and de Havilland DH.200 with their intermediate range offer the potential to bridge the gap between short range jet airliners and medium range planes, whilst the BAC Type 284, Armstrong-Whitworth Amphion and Handley-Page Super Jetstream seem to offer strong competition to the Vickers VC25 Victoria in the very long range Empire routes. The expansion of supersonic air routes across the United States and Far East has increased the market for new passenger jets, and competition promises to be fierce.
February 16: Notorious Malay armed robber Botak Chin is captured after a gunfight with police and security forces at the Eng Leong sawmill on Ipoh Road in Kuala Lumpur, with his gang’s hideout having been stormed after heavy gunfire from the Royal Malay Police’s Tactical Assault Force, whilst a machine gun section of Malayan Army Gurkhas stood by in support. Chin is swiftly tried in camera under emergency measures and hanged for robbery and mayhem on February 27.
February 17: Jeremy Thorpe replaces Sir Arthur Chamberlain as leader of the Liberal Party, with the younger Thorpe seen as presenting a more dynamic and popular front for the party in this year's General Election. Sir Arthur, who remains popular with the general public as a strong, traditional Liberal Imperialist, has agreed to remain as Deputy Leader at the behest of former Prime Minister Sir Richard Harcourt, 79, who remains a strong force in the Liberals and the House of Commons. The Liberals are aiming at attaining the balance of power in what promises to be an extraordinarily close election, with current polling having Labour on 31%, the Conservatives on 32% and the Liberals narrowly behind at 26%.
February 18: Renowned South African zoologist Dr. Andrew Steyn announces that a long running programme in Bechuanaland for the domestication of the zebra through selective breeding, conditioning and arcane modification has finally succeeded. The dramatic revelation is somewhat delayed as the good doctor is late for the press conference after his well-seasoned Land Rover breaks down, again, and he had to be driven into the event by his sometime assistant, a smiling Bushman named Xi.
February 19: First voyage of the Hawaii Superferry, a new large passenger and vehicle super hovercraft linking the Hawaiian Islands, with the 5000t vessel making the 162nm journey between Maui and Oahu in 44 minutes. Despite the flexibility of the fast sealink, the main means of travel and domestic intercourse between the island remain the reliable seaplanes and Rotodynes, which take a little over half the time of the Superferry at this time.
February 20: Opening of newest nuclear fusion power station in Britain at Springfields in Salwick, Lancashire, with the 10,000 megawatt plant joining those at Windscale, Darkmoor, Bramford and Brough-on-Humber, whilst the installations at Tilbury, Weston-super-Mare, Empingham, Redditch and Huddersfield due to be completed in August, March 1977, June 1977, December 1977 and February 1978 respectively. Further fusion plants are planned for Pennard, Greenfield, Borstal, Chesterfield, Marchwood, Cattawade, Spalding-on-Wash, Marnham, Godmanchester, Henley, Blyth, Londonderry, Shannon, Chapelcross and Torness over the next 12 years, along with new fusion powered reactors on the site of current nuclear power plants at Hinkley Point, Sizewell, Bradwell, Berkeley, Trawsfynydd, Heysham and Hartlepool. The tremendous increase in electrical power generation provided by the new and projected facilities is the subject of much study and discussion, with domestic power costs estimated to drop significantly in time, and new industrial opportunities to open up to utilise the new power of the future.
February 21: Governor James Carter of Georgia wins the Democratic Primary in Mississippi by a very clear margin over Senators Henry Jackson and Robert F. Kennedy, as the latter split the vote of particular constituencies, whilst Carter was able to appeal to a number of traditional Southern Democratic areas as being one of them, and better understanding the exigencies of Southern life. The race for the 1976 Democratic nomination for President, previously thought to be something of a formality for Kennedy, is beginning to develop into a more nuanced contest, even as the former President's younger brother remains the firm favourite to take on President Reagan in November.
February 22: The long running rivalry between German and Italian opera in Austria-Hungary reaches its latest depths, with an attempted sabotaging of a performance of Richard Wagner's Friedrich I conducted by Sir George Solti at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg by an enterprising gang of Italian opera devotees, who attempt to disrupt the traditional climax to the first act through rigging a vat of tiramisu to fall upon Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers. Their wicked machinations are foiled at the last moment by an apparent appearance of the vengeful spectre of Richard Wagner, who casts them into their own would-be vat of vengeance and immobilises them until Austro-Hungarian police, lead by an intrepid canine inspector, can arrive and lead them to their just desserts.
February 23: The Labour Party wins a plurality in the Federation of the West Indies general election, retaining power with a reduced majority on the back of solid economic growth and increased provision of human services across the disparate islands. The electoral weight of Cuba continues to act as a counterbalance to that of Jamaica in the general demographic distribution of the vote in the lower House of the People, just as the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago further even out the most egregious parts of the popular disparity. Prime Minister Sir Frank Worrall continues to be one of the most popular political leaders in the world, with his wise policies adding to his revered sporting legacy.
February 24: HMS Amazon, whilst on regular patrol to the east of the Falklands, reports ASDIC contact with an unidentified submarine, and proceeds to pursue, monitor and record its acoustic signature. Subsequent examination by naval intelligence officers results in the conclusion that the submarine is most likely a modified one of a new Austrian type being trialed by the Royal Argentine Navy. This incident, in concert with recent vigorous Argentine interest in bidding for contracts for the scrapping of old whaling equipment and settlements on South Georgia, results in an extensive telex being sent from South Atlantic Command in Stanley to London, and a decision to bring forward Exercise Guildhall in March, and immediately arrange for the scheduled flight of four RAF Vulcans to Stanley.
February 25: CIA assets within the Soviet Union smuggle out a copy of a report on Soviet growth prospects of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, which provide some evidence to support the conclusion that the USSR has recovered from its early 1970s 'blip' in its economic growth, driven by increased petroleum and gas exports and several bumper harvests all but eliminating the need for Western food imports.
February 26: Comet West, discovered last August by U.S. astronomer Richard West at the observatory in Luna City, comes to perihelion with exceptional brightness such that it is visible in broad daylight, akin to Mars in the night sky. It is subsequently tracked by American, British, Soviet, French and Chinese space-based observatories as a means of coordination of monitoring objects beyond inner space as part of the development of general terrestrial defences, until its nucleus is seen to split into two parts a fortnight later. A German-Austro-Hungarian observatory participating in the monitoring project from Earth notes some curious anomalies with regard to Psi Cassiopea, 'the wandering star'.
February 27: A notable US businessman, William F. Niehous, is kidnapped in Caracas, Venezuela by a gang of heavily armed men who purportedly identify themselves as revolutionary guerillas of the Marxist World Revolutionary Command, a hitherto unknown group. Their ransom demands state that Niehous is to be tried as a CIA spy, and that his release would only occur in exchange for a ransom of $5 million, further compensation to each of his Venezuelan workers, the distribution of twenty thousand food packages to the poor and that their manifesto be published by media across the country and in the United States. Investigators begin attempting to track down clues about the group, whilst a US attache notes that there were several anomalous elements to the ransom demand, including several uses of very Germanic 7s.
February 28: An agreement between the Thomas Dam company and Mattel for the importation, marketing and licenced production of Dam's novelty 'troll dolls' is struck over open sandwiches at a meeting in Gjøl, resulting in the renewal of American supply of the curious dolls, which had previously been much desired 'fad' toys in the mid 1960s, much to the chagrin of all six members of the seven different Troll Rights organisations across North America. The terms of the agreement involve the production of an animated cartoon series as a means of marketing the toys to children, with Mattel assuring the Danes that they were quite sure this would work.
February 29: The War Office approves a raft of further measures aimed at increasing the firepower, lethality, efficiency and heavy capability of current British Army infantry battalions without necessarily increasing the number of units. Chief among them is the provision of a specific Heavy Weapons Section in each infantry company, to be variously equipped with new anti-tank rifles and belt fed assault blunderbusses, automatic rocket launchers, semi-automatic individual rocket blasters, man portable grenade machine guns and the British versions of the successful American micro- and mini-guns; the attachment of additional Royal Machine Gun Corps units at brigade and division level; and approval of the proposed inclusion of automatic rifles in infantry sections.

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1976 Notes

- The Italian Scallion/The Kentucky Fried Idiot triumphs in his first fight against Apollo Creed, partly to avoid stretching out the event chain too far, and partly due to the view that Rocky and Rocky II are in many ways the same big picture, just split into two. Naturally, Creed will want a rematch, but the stakes will be that bit higher with Balboa as world champion
- The Middle Eastern Airways flight bomb goes off when the plane is on the ground, as compared to 37,000 feet above it, largely due to the rather mercurial nature of their flight schedule
- Winter storms dissipate when they hit the Channel Barrier, but there is a hint that there may be a bit of a cloud to all the silver linings of increasing weather control...
- A little vignette on British cars comes on January 4, mainly illustrating the different trajectory of the industry, with a number of cars being the antithesis of the likes of the Morris Marina, and there not being a strike ridden, poorly managed British Leyland as a monopolistic monolith spanning the industry, but rather quite healthy competition. The line about the machines at Cowley can tell a fair bit
- Taihō is a puppy step forward as a CVN, not being markedly different from the general characteristics of the IJN's previous dinosaur burning carriers; the big jump in size to the equivalent of the Ticonderogas and Majestics will come in the class/generation after their first CVNs, most likely
- A lot of structural and organisational reforms at the MoD are signposted, with the role of the three Ministries mentioned really being to maximise efficiency and get the best 'power for pound' in the face of the increasingly complex Economic Problem of the Cold War
- This particular OAS is not an anti-government group trying to avenge French Algeria (which still remains part of France here), but a more shadowy group that is used by French intelligence for vaguelly plausible deniability work, but a bit closer to the current regime than other options such as the Union Corse
- The Tomorrow Children is building towards something
- German shipbuilding is catching up in leaps and bounds, but they are constrained by the exigencies of geography as ever
- The USSR and Japan edge closer to some sort of modus vivendi, even as the Kurils seem to be a sticking point in most worlds
- He-Man will be coming rather earlier, and be slightly different, both in the toys and animation, and be one of the first 'franchises' in this world
- Norsefire is just a bunch of cranks and extremist idiots here and at this time, reflecting a much less notable British far right fringe
- Another unknown actor is keeping an eye on guerilla groups in the Shan Hills...
- The RAF Composite Air Squadrons are an extension of the idea explored in No. 373 Rapid Deployment Wing (based on the 1982 BBC television series 'Squadron' starring Malcolm Stoddard)
- New Mexico is a lot of ship, and reflects the inflation of armament that can come with 'traveling first class'
- The Super Bowl and gridiron in general continues to be cursed with misfortune; the Texas Cowgirls cheerleaders is not a mistake
- A number of Democrats have a chance in the race for the nomination, but RFK does have the benefit of his last name and his older brother as the ultimate campaign weapon
- Big Ben is hushed for a far shorter time here, due to the much shorter maintenance workers being able to scurry around that bit more efficiently. The Hannay Incident of 1914 refers to the events of The Thirty-Nine Steps
- Spanish drafting of postmen and mail workers is based on a historical event
- The BMD and what will become the BTR-80 are reasonably recognisable, but the APT-125 is a newer vehicle designed to replace the PT-85 in a number of roles, and the new and significantly evolved MT-LB is designed to be a multipurpose tracked APC for a variety of support purposes, illustrating how the Soviets can improve their military lot that little bit further
- French, American and British intervention in Beirut, and then in the Lebanon in general, comes as the government there sees that things could go downhill very, very fast. The Western powers are not keen on that happening, as chaos like that would likely be exploited by the Soviets in the best case scenario
- Note the different range of F1 racecar drivers, some of whom had already died or retired on Earth at this point
- The Panorama episode on English food trends doesn't seem like much compared to international politics, or matters of war and peace, but does illustrate how the different past is manifesting into a very different future in this niche yet vital everyday area. Loseyns were a medieval dish equivalent to a proto lasagna, loxen are the anglicised version of the Ashkenazi lokshen, which develops over the centuries in England and then Britain in the absence of the 1290 Edict of Expulsion, and ragout here refers to more of an Italian inspired meat sauce as compared to the 'Frenchier' stew found in English cuisine on Earth, coming from the presence of British forces in the Two Sicilies during the Napoleonic Wars. Their presence in general memory and food culture means that spaghetti bolognese, lasagna and other such dishes are quite as novel in DE Britain in 1950-1975 as they were in our past from 1960-1975. I put in the Delia series as 1970s Delia was extremely dishy
- The Australia vs West Indies series is much closer, as the Windies are that little bit further ahead in their path to cricketing domination. As mentioned a few times earlier, there won't be a Packer Crisis/Circus and World Series Cricket split here, but rather, the idea of commercialising One Day Cricket and by extension developing some professional elements will come just as much from the North American market as well as Kerry Packer
- John Boulton is not just a would be Falklands MP, but a seasoned Met detective who served with Sunhill CID

[Simon Darkshade]

February 1976 Notes

- Not only is there no swine flu issue, but the universal influenza vaccine is a gamechanger for winters to come
- The French Somaliland bus hijacking has an even swifter end, what with British Somaliland lying next door vs Somalia, and non lethal means of resolving hostage situations making things that bit more unfair for poor garden variety terrorists
- Britain has a few additional major intelligence agencies and has just set the wheels in motion for a major increase in funding
- Guatemala’s earthquake is bad, and the aftermath complex
- After a lot of making sure, a victory in the Bush War. This isn’t to say that there won’t be new trouble in the future, but the geography of the situation is instructive
- Rutland Water has a tad more of an industrial purpose; it should be noted that Stamford is a part of Rutland here
- The Hong Kong border becomes a little less tense, but not entirely so. The presence of British nuclear weapons does seem a bit self defeating, but are designed more as a sign of a deterrent intent: “You might well take Hong Kong, but at the cost of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Nanning and Hengchow, with more to come in just over half an hour. Is it worth it?”
- Captain Wales would like to stay in the Andrew a bit longer, but there are many calls upon his time
- The ADCOM Tomcat isn’t the better fighter than the F-15, but it is better at intercepting Soviet bombers over the Arctic and High North
- The Soviet boomers are the Typhoons, replete with pump drives, whilst the long distance duck is from Allo Allo
- Sal Mineo survives, with the help of a taser and the LAPD having followed the pattern of the SFPD with regard to sidearms, which in turn followed the preference of Chief Callahan
- The Barton Doctrine gets a work out in Nigeria; there has been a rise in ‘security consultants’ working for African governments
- Feeding the world by 1985, without pop singers
- The array of new British airliners points out the different shape and health of the industry
- Thorpe gets to the head of the Liberals later, without knowing Norman Scott, and before what looks to be a very close election
- Zebras being the next domesticated animal comes after centuries of gradual efforts, and 150 years of a dedicated programme. Steyn and Xi are from The Gods Must Be Crazy
- The Superferry is a different vessel here, and a lot larger
- Plans for fusion power are both expansive and consequential
- Carter has some success in the South, as would be expected
- The opera shenanigans were for more than just the punny punchline, honest
- The Federation of the West Indies continues to encounter some success
- Something seems to be going on in the South Atlantic
- Soviet economic circumstances are markedly different, suggesting a different future
- Comet West isn’t an afterthought here, even if something significant is slipped in
- Someone different has nabbed Niehous
- Troll dolls seem nice and benign and just a little cultural snippet, don’t they?
- Increasing the firepower of infantry units at company and battalion level is a sign of things to come